Crestview beekeeper shares advice on getting started in the hobby

Friday

CRESTVIEW — More than two dozen residents attending the Crestview Public Library's First Tuesday lecture now know more about beekeeping.

CRESTVIEW — More than two dozen residents attending the Crestview Public Library's First Tuesday lecture now know more about beekeeping.

Maj. Ken Bundrick, a senior Crestview Police officer, traded his patrolman's cap for a pith helmet with netting for the meeting, during which he explained the hobby's dos and don'ts.

He also displayed several items that Bundrick Honey Farms bees produce, including honey — "your simplest sugar," which the digestive system doesn't have to break down, he said.

Other products include bee pollen, beeswax and hand cream made from propolis, a waxy resin bees produce to seal holes in the hive.

Beekeeping 101

Bundrick offered advice for aspiring beekeepers, whose initial equipment investment can expect to be between $500 and $600 for a two-hive operation. Need-to-know information about beekeeping is as follows:

• Suit up. "Nothing ruins things for a beekeeper more than not wearing protective gear," Bundrick said. "There's nothing like having a mean bee around your nose. If people say it doesn't hurt to get stung, they're lying." Start-up equipment — a wooden hive, protective clothes and a colony of bees — costs about $500.

• Blossoms on north county gallberry, blackberry and blueberry bushes are bees' favorites. Bees also make honey from cotton blossoms, but beekeepers dislike it because it granulates quickly.